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The Edged Weapons Training section
will give concepts
of motion for the use of edged man-made weapons studied throughout
American
Kenpo Karate training. The two weapons which will be discussed
most
often will be Kenpo knives and the Kenpo sword. Initially, I must
request that before reading or trying any of the concepts discussed in
this section that you use these weapons with great care so as not to
injure
yourself in any way, and do not over train in these concepts.
Either
of those would be detrimental to continued training and to the safety
of
the practitioner. Being that edged weapons are much more
dangerous
than virtually almost every other weapon in the martial arts, extra
care
must be taken in training. One suggestion would be to use
practices
weapons such as plastic or wooden knives for many hours before training
with real edged weapons. And should you want to train with more
realistic
weapons, another suggestion would be to tape a practice edged weapon
before
working with a live edged weapon. Regardless, the best training is
careful
training.
The world has changed. The most vile, perverse, and inconceivable
attack of terrorism on America has taken place, and it's effects at
this
moment are still not known. The true ramifications of this action
could be considered as inconceivable as the action itself, yet
hopefully
they remain just, and honorable on the side of our country. Now
is
the time however, when capitalization upon this event have taken their
course. Nevertheless, the editorials within this website will not
fall under the heading of capitalization, for they will take a
different
path. That of respect, and honor for those that have passed from
this world, and aid those who are still with us. Some people
paint,
some people sing, I write. I also train in the art of
Self-Preservation
and Self-Defense, and now, more then ever, both of these "hobbies" can
be put to good use for the good of our nation. I encourage all of
you reading this and the other editorials to do what you can in this
new
environment to help those around you. Not only is it the right
thing
to do, but it may save lives.
Now
let's get
to work.
This training concept section is going to be covered a little
differently,
or at least a great deal more delicately. Granted, training in
the
scientific art of self-defense known as American Kenpo would be
difficult
to consider delicate. However, at this time the topic of edged
weapons
training is a little too timely to be totally comfortable. On the
other hand, this is a subject that could same someone’s life at some
point
down the road. So, we are going to go over some training concepts
in regards to edged weapon training from two directions. One
being
prevention and response, the other being the tie in with the other
training
sections.
The prevention direction of edged weapons training we’d like to talk
about
is, try to make your training in edged weapons as useless as
possible.
Not disfunctional mind you, just useless. What we mean is, think
of .. well, martial arts training in general, like life
insurance.
You may do a lot to get and keep life insurance, but it’s not something
you want to use. Don’t get us wrong, while we don’t really like
ground
training nor edged weapons training for various reasons, we still
advocate
and participate in this type of study. It’s kind of a necessary
evil
which, if at all possible should be avoided in a live situation.
This is something we have harped on for a long time, but in a live
situation
the best thing to do should a knife be involved is find an exit.
Whatever way out, whatever retreat you can take, use it if you are
able.
I understand the reflex action to be the hero, but you won’t do anyone
any good in getting yourself injured or worse. Too many people in
this world have been severely wounded or killed for little more then
pride,
when there are always better options to take.
Well, now that I have gotten off of my passive aggressive soapbox,
let’s
get down to business. Contrary to popular opinion, knife attacks
are not just fodder for the silver screen. This is about as nieve
a theory as the extremely high percentage of scuffles that end up on
the
ground. What is it, 110% of fights end up on the ground
now?
Should you plan on dabbling with edged weapon training, or really
martial
arts training at all, the sooner you come to the realization that one
day
some inappropriate individual may try to increase your number of
orifices,
the sooner your training will go to a new level. So with that in
mind, train realistically, safely, and often.
From here comes the tie in to the other sections. There is
technically
only one major difference between blunt and edged weapons, that being
edged
weapons are.. well, edged. With this specific differentiation,
ERT
(Environmental Response Training) can be discussed in a fairly similar
fashion. Just as with the blunt weapons section, practically
anything
with an edge can be utilized for self-defense purposes; for it is
not the tool or weapon, it is the person wielding the tool one should
analyze.
Here is a short list (some obvious, some not): kitchen knives,
writing
pens, car window scrappers, car keys, the tip to an electrical cord,
broken
glass bottle, unfolded paper clips, industrial
staples,
a shovel,
rake, gardening hoe, nails (finger or otherwise), scissors, letter
opener,
and we’ll end the list there. There are many more which we could
list, mind you; we just thought a hint or two might aid in self
experimentation
on the subject. And while some may be less structurally sound
then
others, the idea here is to use them as an aid in a self-defense
situation,
not an end-all, better mousetrap so to speak.
And the same holds true with the blunt weapons section, while
self-defense
techniques are great, try not to run to them first when working on
ERT.
However, there is one stipulation we must elaborate on before we go
further.
DO NOT attempt to work on ERT or any other edged weapon concept without
first putting in the training time with non edged training tools.
As we have talked about in other training sections, some of these can
be
wooden or plastic training knives, taped butter knives (with permission
from their owner). Safe training tools are the most important
part
of your workout the edged weapons, and we advise.. no demand that you
put
in hundreds of hours of training with these safe tools before even
picking
up an edged tool. WE will not be held responsible
for any
accidents
which may transpire should you not heed this advice. Edged
weapons
are the most dangerous tools you can train with in conventional martial
arts education circles, and should be treated with a great deal of
respect.
With that said, here are some ERT concepts. Utilize drilling
methods
first, such as sets (if you still have them) or basic motion with the
Environmental
Tool of choice. The tool itself can play a huge factor in your
training,
thus the reason for this level of training first. A pair of
scissors
is going to require different motion choices then say, a kitchen knife
due to the different edge placement. So once you choose the tool
you wish to work with, begin with the different principles of motion
the
will make your actions work effectively. Start from just a Horse
Stance with Hammering, Whipping, Slashing, and Thrusting motion first,
in horizontal, vertical, and diagonal planes of action. Then
move on
to sets such
as Stance, and even Kicking Sets to get used to having them as an
extension.
Then move to more obvious sets such as Blocking, Striking, Finger, even
Coordination Sets to work more specific concepts.
Should you not have any of those sets for whatever reason, try using
the
initial basics we discussed with different basics added in. Move
from a Horse Stance to a Neutral Bow, work combinations of different
hand
maneuvers together, start adding kicks and stance changes. These
combinations of basics are the building blocks to self-defense
techniques
or utilization later on. All of this done keeping safety in mind, of
course.
Once you are comfortable with set work or basic motion concepts, it
would
be a good time to move on to either forms or self-defense
training.
Forms training may be the better path to start from to ingrain the
motion
principles even further, and to create good motion habits. When
you
feel comfortable with this path of training, feel free to move on to
self-defense
technique training. At this point, training with self-defense
techniques
should be a comfortable transition and accompaniment to the base you
have
already built.
While working with Edged Weapons, always keep in mind the principles of
motion that make Kenpo or any martial arts system work. Work
slowly
at first to get the basic movements down before working faster motion
inherent
in these weapons. And, like with any other aspect of learning to
defend yourself, work on the specialized movements in the training
hall.
Just like with the first ten yellow belt techniques in Kenpo, keep
things
in a live situation simple, direct, and effective. And always
remember
the 1st rule in a self-defense situation involving weapons, if there is
a means to escape, take it. Personal safety is always more
important
than anything else.
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